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GM is hoping that the new 2013 Cadillac ATS will steal sales away from its German rivals including the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and the Audi A4 – however it seems like the ATS is stealing sales away from Cadillac’s very own CTS.

Cadillac CTS sales have apparently nosedived since the launch of the ATS – sinking 40 percent in October from 2011. According to Edmunds.com, the CTS is one of the most cross-shopped vehicles among ATS shoppers.

In the wake of the sales decline GM will start cutting back on CTS production next year.

“We planned for the ATS to take some CTS customers out of the market who otherwise would have seen,” said Cadillac’s U.S. sales chief Chase Hawkins. “We definitely are going to be producing fewer CTSs next year to create some of that space for ATS.”

Haven't seen one. Actually, I haven't seen any ATS wagons. Doesn't mean they aren't in the works as a future model though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by keepclam

Wonder if Cadillac makes more money per vehicle on CTS or ATS.

I don't know if it's still true, but historically GM has lost money on all their cars just to be competitive in the market. Their manufacturing costs (labor) are higher than their competitors thanks to old UAW contracts that they can't seem to get rid of. GM makes up the difference and sees profit from crossovers and trucks.

I don't know if you can ask which one they make more money on. It might be a case of which one loses less . I would expect the ATS will cost more for the moment just because it is an all new platform. The tools and any new capital investment for manufacturing and assembly hasn't been paid off through years of rolling costs into the price of vehicles.

I don't know if it's still true, but historically GM has lost money on all their cars just to be competitive in the market. Their manufacturing costs (labor) are higher than their competitors thanks to old UAW contracts that they can't seem to get rid of.

Not true. Old GM had ~78/hr in labor costs, New GM has ~56/hr in labor costs. About the same as Toyota.

The fact that there isn't much difference in price, doesn't help matters any.

Umm...wouldn't this make people opt for more car usually? I find I'm always in the minority when I prefer smaller cars. Most luxury car buyers, even those who want sports sedans, don't think the CTS is too big.

Another example of a great wagon being killed off before its time due to lackluster sales was the Dodge Magnum, a favorite only among a small group of enthusiasts. With the upcoming death of the CTS wagon, chances are now extremely unlikely that an ATS wagon will be offered in the US, though it reportedly hasn't been ruled out for Europe.

Not true. Old GM had ~78/hr in labor costs, New GM has ~56/hr in labor costs. About the same as Toyota.

GM is still struggling to be competitive with their $56/hr when most of their competition is around $47/hr. Not a huge difference and certainly better than what it's been. Still doesn't fix the fact that they are losing money on most of the cars they sell. I hope that turns around once the years worth of new development and cutting out costs makes it's way to market with newer vehicles over the next few years. To rid themselves of the overhead and built-up losses they need to design their way out of the old, expensive platforms and processes. That can't happen overnight in such a large, global company.

The CTS wagon has a higher base price than the SRX crossover. Given that many buyers already prefer crossovers, it's not terribly surprising that the wagon didn't sell well. Even within its own brand it was pushed into an impossibly small niche.

It was also priced higher than the 3-series wagon and A4 Avant. Even though the CTS is a bit larger, I would imagine those two cars stole a lot of its sales as well.